Crystal S.

I think all children have potential for anything, to be anything, to be anybody. living in this neighborhood, it strips them of their innocence and their ability to be whatever they want to be, just living in an urban neighborhood.

My daughter said, “I am tired of waiting.” You go to the doctor’s office, and you wait hours to be seen. They give you an appointment at eight o’clock. At twelve o’clock, you might be sitting in that same spot.

There are some benefits. They provide your children with vaccinations, things that they can’t get in third world countries, things that we take for granted… they can take care of me medically but the rest of me is just dangling out there, hanging on a rope...

That’s a foreclosure notice with the amount on it. After my mom died I thought she was paying taxes, but then I got a notice in the mail that says $3,000… almost $4,000 owed in back taxes. Now, the city has a nice way of saying even though you've been dwelling in this house for however long, we won’t help you.

That is the YMCA--through your medical coverage you can join the Y. They actually will pay for you to get a membership to the Y as a way of reducing more health problems, a way to keep them from forking out more money if you get overweight and start developing more medical problems. I think it’s a good way to relieve stress, too. You know, you get to go the gym and you get to work out, you just get some free time to clear your head for a couple hours.

With the money food stamps provide, I was able to feed her breakfast that morning. Without it what would she have eaten? I wanted to show that with the help she was able to eat breakfast that morning. She had cereal. She had milk. She didn’t have to go without.

Thank God for layaway. You can take and layaway a few pairs of pants, or go on the sales rack and they have $3 shirts, grab the kids a few. Last week, the kids needed jackets and I went to Foreman Mills and I was on the sales rack. I was there for hours trying to find stuff on the sales rack. Two-dollar shirts, three-dollar shirts, four-dollar pair of pants… whatever you can find within your reach. I know the government, they see the people who are on Welfare and they’re wearing Gucci and Prada and Polo. If I've got something like that it must’ve been on the three-dollar rack.

That is my daughter’s father. He’s a part of her life when it’s convenient for him, whenever he feels like, oh, I have a daughter today. Financially, nothing. Even when I had a job they made me waste two days of work, going down there to file for child support... If you want your medical and you wanna get food stamps for the child you have to take the child’s father to court for child support. Now what happens if I was afraid of him? What happens if he beat me up but my child needs medical insurance?

They talk about people who are on SSI and Welfare, how they’re on Welfare just because they don’t want anything out of life. People are on it because sometimes they don’t have any other option. I really wanted to show that calendar and say: Employment. Is it really possible? Do you know somebody that’s going to hire me when I need to take all those days off?

This photograph show's the many medical appointments Crystal had scheduled for her children.

Try to work with what you have. So many people live beyond their means. You can't say, "I’m living in this house and it’s a piece of crap and nothing works." Try to empower yourself to fix something or to do something. There’s things that you can do yourself just to improve the quality of life around you.

I get stressed, I get overworked, bills are piling up, I feel like I’m ready to explode… I just go on my treadmill, reduce the stress. By the time I’m finished I feel a whole lot better. Try to find a constructive way to deal with everyday life without drinking, without smoking, without fighting, without cussing, beating on the kids because you're just at your wit’s end. Find something constructive and positive for yourself to do.

I was caulking the windows so this picture shows how it looked before it started, like the big cracks on the seams of the windows and then once I filled them in. Trying to weatherize the house, getting it ready for winter to reduce my gas bill.

He was saying peace to everybody. In this picture, from my son, he just wants to be a normal kid… same wants and needs. Because my son, he’s developmentally delayed from his medical problems. He just wants to fit in. He just wants to be normal like everybody else... I figure you've gotta be gentle and you've gotta be nurturing, because the world isn’t … it’s not gentle, it’s not kind, it’s not easygoing at all. It’s hard, it’s tough, and it’ll knock you down every chance it gets, so I shelter them with as much love as I can right now.